Replacement unit arrived last night. About a 10-day turn-around. This was due to a reoccurring ERR1 code.

New unit seems a bit more solid due to better/tighter fitting of all components. May even be a bit heavier. I think the back panel has been re-designed, but I'd have to see pictures of others to be sure. (Even my 8yo son commented that the back looked different!) Another change I noticed was the steam lever and hot water knob both had a noticable "click" when first opening/engaging. My previous unit did not have this. It is like a physical contact switch is being engaged.

Pulls with the rubber blank in place max out at 10-10.5 bar.

Don't know if it's just a brand-new, clean machine, but the initial shots were quite good and smooth. Looking to get back in the groove with the BDB and my recent Sweet Maria order!!

Just had a reply to my enquiry to Gastroback - they won't officially sell to the UK, so it would be totally unsupported. Such a shame, but looks like I'll have to go back to the drawing board and choose a different machine.

Just received my new BDB/B and so far it is a distinct improvement over my previous but beloved BDB.

Differences noted so far:

The plastic insert piece inside the portafilter cup is gone.

The portafilter fits in much more snugly with increased resistance. Less likely to spin out.

The puck no longer sticks after pulling a shot.

The pressure is more precisely dialed in easily yielding 8.5 to 10.5 depending on tamping.

The machine came with a smaller 16 oz steaming pitcher

Don't really know all the differences between the BES900XL & the BES900XL/B, but it seems apparent that they have tweaked a number of issues. Very pleased so far. The /B designation is printed on the shipping box and on the owners manual.

Someone asked a while back about the electrical consumption of the BDB. I made some measurements using a Kill-A-Watt meter. These things are great if you are interested in how much power you are using. You plug the device into the Kill-A-Watt, then plug the Kill-A-Watt into the wall, and it will give you a bunch of data. However, almost all of your power usage is cooling and heating, so it is not all THAT interesting.

Some quick background: Electrical consumption is measured in Kilowatt-hours. That's using 1,000 watts for an hour. The average for the US is about .09/KW-h. So, if you run a 100 watt incandescent bulb for 10 hours (1 KW-h), it will cost you about .09.

The Kill-A-Watt meter has a mode where it will average the power consumption over time and give you a projection for the cost of the device over a month. We make about 4 lattes a day, plus a couple of shots every now and then. I ran it for about a week, and it told me the BDB is going to cost me about $2.85/month. That means the rest of this analysis is pretty useless, but here it is anyway.

- When the BDB is shut off, it uses 0.0 watts. That's not an actual 0 watts, but it is pretty close. It is probably a lot less than 0.01/month in "standby" mode.- From ambient temperature to warm up to 200 degrees boiler, it uses about .8 Kw-h. That means it will cost less than a penny for most of you to warm it up.- While maintaining temperature, it consumes about 100 watts. If you left it "on" all the time, it would cost you about .1 Kw-h X 24 hours X 30 days x .09cents = $6.48. In california, about 3X that.

So this raises an interesting question, if it only cost $6 in electricity to keep it on all the time, why don't we just do that? That way it would always be warm. Is there any reason no to this? (other then environmentalism)

So this raises an interesting question, if it only cost $6 in electricity to keep it on all the time, why don't we just do that? That way it would always be warm. Is there any reason no to this? (other then environmentalism)

Cuz in California that's $18 and almost enough for a gallon of gas. LOL

Great analysis Alex, thanks. The question I have is, what parts, if any, in the BDB would be subject to burnout if left on all the time? For example, would the group head heating unit suffer an early demise?

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